STA, 15 July 2020 - The parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Commission discussed on Wednesday a report which shows that the 7 May incident in which two Slovenian soldiers stopped at gunpoint a civilian in the woods near the border with Italy had happened and had not been orchestrated.
The incident was not orchestrated and the two hikers were not members of the Antifa terrorist organisation as alleged by Prime Minister Janez Janša, commission chair Matjaž Nemec of the opposition SocDems told the press after the commission discussed the report, which is designated as internal, behind closed doors.
The report was compiled by the Defence Ministry's Intelligence and Security Service (OVS) following doubts whether soldiers had indeed been involved in such an incident and whether the incident had happened at all, and was today presented to the commission by OVS director Andrej Osolnik.
Asked whether police officers were patrolling the border together with the two soldiers, Nemec said he could confirm the media reports that only Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) members had been there upon instruction by the police.
The SAF is helping Slovenian police officers patrol the border to contain illegal migrants, but soldiers have no police powers, so they have to follow instructions of the police. There have been attempts by the Janša government to temporarily give SAF such powers to enable them to help the police more effectively.
Nemec said the OVS report had been sent to the district state prosecution, which will decide on further steps.
He now expects the interior, defence and foreign ministries as well as the prime minister to apologize to the two hikers - Daniel Malalan, a member of the Slovenian minority in Italy, and his girlfriend, and to the Slovenian minority daily Primorski Dnevnik, which broke the news about the incident.
Nemec said both hikers, the newspaper, and the opposition MPs who had demanded certain answers had come under fire after the incident from members of the government.
He now expects them to muster the courage to apologise, adding that some media outlets, especially those close to the ruling Democrats (SDS), portrayed Malalan in an negative manner and accused him of being a member of a terrorist organisation.
Nemec pointed a finger especially at Janša and his tweets which alleged the incident had been orchestrated by the deep state. He said this had caused great pain not only to Malalan and his girlfriend but to the entire Slovenian minority in Italy.
In his first response, Defence Minister Matej Tonin said the soldier had not pointed a gun at the hiker, had not asked him about his identity and had not arrested him, but had simply been doing his job in line with standard procedure.
"Following the investigation, it is time for the depoliticisation of the case to the benefit of Malalan and the soldier, who is an exceptionally experienced and decorated SAF member," Tonin tweeted, adding #truth_wins.
On 23 May, Primorski Dnevnik run a story about a 32-year-old Italian-Slovenian citizen with temporary residence in Slovenia who was stopped in early May at gunpoint by a uniformed man in the municipality of Hrpelje - Kozina near the border with Italy. When the man in uniform realised the civilian was not an illegal migrant when he spoke Slovenian, he was let go.
The story was followed by a series of speculations about its authenticity and the identity of the civilian, with Defence Minister Tonin immediately saying it could well be fake news.
The civilian later went public, disclosing his identity in a bid to support his story, and the SAF chief of the general staff announced the incident would be fully investigated.
STA, 13 July 2020 - The presidents of Slovenia and Italy, Borut Pahor in Sergio Mattarella, laid wreaths at two memorials in the Italian town of Basovizza on Monday, one to the 1930 Slovenian victims of Fascism and the other to the Italian victims of post-WWII killings. As they stood in front of the memorials, the presidents held hands.
The Memorial to Basovizza Heroes is a memorial to three Slovenians and one Croat whom the Fascist authorities executed in Basovizza on 6 September 1930.
The men were members of an illegal organisation of Slovenian and Croatian youth set up in 1927 to organise a fight against the Fascist regime and its violent assimilation policy. Under Italian law, they are still considered terrorists.
The Foiba of Basovizza is meanwhile a Karst chasm which the Italians have chosen as their symbolic memorial site for the victims of post-war killings.
Italy believes the communists threw the executed Italians in it, whereas some historians say it has been proven empty.
Pahor's visit to the foiba memorial recently stirred controversy in Slovenia, with some fearing it would give the Italian revisionists of history a fresh impetus.
The commemoration was attended by representatives of several politicians and NGOs.
Senator Tatjana Rojc, a member of the Slovenian minority, said this was a historic day for Trieste and the area around the border between Slovenia and Italy.
She finds it key for the two presidents to have paid their respects at two symbolic sites chosen by the Slovenian and Italian communities as their memorial sites.
"I think this is the start of a new process, a new future on which we'll build our European identity," she told the press.
As for Pahor's visit to the foiba site, she said all the dead had the right to be respected and should not be abused for political agendas.
Similarly, Walter Bandelj of the SSO Slovenian minority organisation said this was a big day heralding the start of dialogue between the two states. He regretted it had not happened some ten years earlier.
He believes neither the Fascist atrocities nor what happened latter should be forgotten. What is needed is looking ahead and achieving reconciliation, he said.
The commemoration at the foiba will go down in history, because this is the first time that the president of a former Yugoslav republic has paid his respects to the Italian victims of post-war killings, according to Antonio Ballarin of an organisation representing the Italians who left Yugoslavia after WWII. They are known as "esuli" in Italian and "optanti" in Slovenian.
Before the Basovizza commemorations, an estimated 150 people gathered at the Fernetiči border crossing with Italy to protest against Pahor's laying a wreath at the foiba memorial, with one banner reading "traitor".
After the commemoration, a group of protestors gathered at the Memorial to Basoviza Heroes; head of the 13 July Not In My Name civil initiative, Mauro Dornik, said Pahor paid his respects at a chasm which historians proved was empty.
By doing so, Pahor "confirmed that we are a genocidal nation which went about killing Italians just because they were Italians" and sided with Fascists, he said.
Dornik believes this opens the door to the organisations representing the esuli to claim back the property they left behind in Istria and Dalmatia.
Mattarella has not posthumously amnestied the Slovenian anti-Fascists killed at the Memorial to Basovizza Heroes, which proves that both presidents' tribute to the Slovenian victims of Fascism was not sincere, he added.
A rally against Pahor's act and in support of the people of Primorska region, including Slovenians in Trieste, is also planned for tonight in Ljubljana.
The wreath-lying commemorations were held on the sideline of today's signing of a document which triggered the restitution of National Hall in Trieste to the Slovenian minority. The ceremony took place exactly 100 years since the Fascists burnt down National Hall.
Its restitution is seen by the Slovenian side as a symbolic act of reconciliation and of utmost importance for future ties between Slovenia and Italy.
It is meanwhile opposed by the Italian far-right movement CasaPound, which according to the Slovenian minority daily Primorski Dnevnik today mounted a protest in Trieste.
STA, 11 June 2020 - The Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) and Defence Minister Matej Tonin came under significant pressure in Thursday, a day after it transpired that soldiers likely had been involved in an incident on the border with Italy despite initial indications to the contrary. Responding to demands for clarification, SAF vowed to help investigate the matter.
After initial reports that the incident happened on 8 May, the SAF said there had been no soldiers in the area that day, while Tonin labelled the report fake news.
In late May, the newspaper Primorski Dnevnik reported that a civilian was stopped at gunpoint by two Slovenian soldiers on the Slovenian-Italian border near Trieste the previous week.
SAF press officer Colonel Marjan Sirk told the press today that the SAF had looked into the movements of all patrols in the week specified but later also on 8 May, the date subsequently provided to the SAF by the journalist who wrote the piece.
Looking into the whereabouts of troops on 8 May, the SAF reported that no military patrols had been in the area that day.
But commercial broadcaster POP TV reported yesterday that the police investigation, which had been launched, had found the incident took place a day earlier and that the man who was stopped at gunpoint had identified the two men who stopped him in photographs.
According to unofficial sources, the police force had taken recorded soldiers when they reported for duty.
The investigation has since been picked up by the Defence Ministry's Intelligence and Security Service (OVS) because there had been Slovenian troops in the area on 7 May.
Before Sirk took questions from reporters, the Chief of the General Staff Brigadier General Robert Glavaš gave a statement ensuring that the military will cooperate in the investigation as it wants to determine what happened.
"It is in the interest of all of us, and above all in the interest of the military, that this event be investigated. We do not allow misuse of powers. Any anomaly must be sanctioned," said Glavaš.
Glavaš also expressed surprise that an inter-ministerial task force had not been formed in the wake of the incident. The relevant government decree on military's assistance to the police on the border stipulates that the ministries of interior and defence form a special task force in case of violations.
He also said that the military had been assisting the police in border controls since 2015, having carried out a total of 110,000 patrols along the border and this being the only such incident to date.
When asked why had soldiers been assisting the police on the Italian border, not the one with Croatia, where illegal migrants enter the country, Sirk said this was a question for the police, because the military only followed orders by police in this capacity.
He also said that soldiers were obligated to report on encounters to their superiors, but not on all encounters. He said no official report about such an incident had been made, and no information about this had reached the HQ in Ljubljana.
When asked about the use of weapons by the troops helping the police control the border, Sirk said that soldiers were allowed to use force and that this would have depended on their assessment of the situation. After all, civilians are allowed to use force in self-defence as well, he said.
The 32-year-old civilian told Primorski Dnevnik that he was stopped by two Slovenian soldiers while taking a walk with his girlfriend near the border in the woods above the Glinščiva Valley (Val Rosandra).
He also said that they let him go, when they realised he spoke Slovenian and had told him they were patrolling the area for illegal migrants.
Today, all parliamentary parties have expressed expectation that the incident be investigated and that Tonin provide clarifications.
While coalition parties expressed confidence that Tonin would be able to provide clarifications, the opposition was more critical, with the Left's MP Matej T. Vatovec that this was a "massive international incident without comparison".
The party also accused Tonin of trying to cover it up when he said that the Primorski Dnevnik report was fake news. Vatovec also indicated that Tonin may face an ouster motion over this.
Earlier today, Tonin met with President Borut Pahor, the supreme commander of the SAF, with the latter tweeting that he expected a thorough written report about the incident.
Last night, Tonin appeared in the late news show Odmevi. When asked whether he considered resigning, Tonin said that more than 6,000 people worked in defence. "If the minister would have to take responsibility for each mistake they make, we'd soon run out of ministers."
STA, 6 June 2020 - Slovenia will open its border with Italy very soon, Foreign Minister Anže Logar said on Saturday as he hosted his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio in Ljubljana. Though not naming a date, Logar repeated several times that he looked forward to 15 June with optimism.
Logar said that Slovenia followed the situation in Italy on a daily basis and that it would open its border as soon as the health situation there allows it.
He said that the situation in Italy was improving very fast, infection-wise. There were, however, differences between regions, but all have made significant progress, said Logar.
He added that the opening of the border will have to be green-lighted by the National Institute for Public Health (NIJZ) before this decision is made by the government.
"I'm looking forward to 15 June with optimism," he said several times during the joint statement with Di Maio.
Di Maio meanwhile thanked his host for showing optimism and underlined that the border opening for tourism was vital for the economies of both countries.
The Italian minister also said that a high level of caution will be needed in the next 10 days to prevent the number of coronavirus infections from increasing once again.
Logar said that Italy was a very important neighbouring country for Slovenia and a key economic partner, while bilateral relations are at a high level.
Turning to EU issues, Di Maio said Europe needed to become a place that unites, not divided. It has to become more united to cope with the problems ahead, both economic and health issues, he said.
The pair also discussed the forthcoming return of National Hall in Trieste to the Slovenian minority there, en event that Logar described as a landmark. "This will be an important landmark that will lift bilateral relations to a new level."
Di Maio added that as Italy changed electoral legislation, the Slovenian minority must be secured a place in parliament.
He also met Slovenian President Borut Pahor, with the latter pointing to regular contacts with his counterpart Sergio Mattarella. The presidents will attend the ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of National Hall arson by Fascists together.
Pahor's office also said in a press release that cooperation between the Italian government and local authorities will be key so that everything is ready for the return of the National Hall to the Slovenian community on 13 July.
STA, 4 June 2020 - One hundred years since National Hall in Trieste was burnt down by Fascists, Italy is expected to give this former state-of-the-art commercial and cultural centre of Slovenians in Italy back to the Slovenian ethnic minority. The symbolic gesture could bring about the much needed reconciliation between the minority and majority populations.
Narodni Dom, as is called in Slovenian, epitomised the economic and political power of Slovenians in Italy, which accounted for around 25% of Trieste population before WWI.
Its torching on 13 July 1920 symbolises the onset of Fascist violence against Slovenians. A pivotal report on Slovenian-Italian relations in 1880-1956, which was released in 2000 but has not been published in Italy to date, says the arson "publicly heralded the long-lasting violence against Slovenians".
The multi-purpose centre was launched in 1904 featuring a bank, a hotel, a library, a 400-seat theatre, a sports hall, a music school, a print shop and the newspaper Edinost, several associations, restaurants and bars as well as flats.
Prosperous Slovenian politicians and businessmen from Trieste, who were behind the idea to build such a unique centre unknown of in Europe or the US at the time, selected Maks Fabiani, one the finest architects in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to design it.
After it was burnt down, the centre was repaired and turned into Regina Hotel, which was closed soon after WWII and bought by the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region to be later given to the University of Trieste.
Although the Slovenian minority had wanted to have National Hall returned ever since the end of WWII, it was not until 2001 that Italy committed to returning it in an umbrella law to safeguard the minority.
The centre, now valued at over nine million euro, should have become available to Slovenian and Italian cultural and scientific organisations within five years since the passage of the law, so the delay prompted the Slovenian and Italian foreign ministers, Karl Erjavec and Angelino Alfano, to sign a deal in 2017 to speed up its renovation and return.
What sparked the attack on National Hall was an incident involving a Yugoslav flag in Split, a port in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, where two Italian seamen died a day earlier in a clash with locals.
Thousands of protesters that gathered in Trieste on 13 July demanded revenge for the two victims, urging the authorities to hunt down the "dangerous" Yugoslavs, writes historian Milica Kacin-Wohinz in her book Slovenians in Primorska Region under Italian Occupation in 1918-1921, which is also available in Italian.
An innocent man died at the rally, with the Fascists claiming he had been killed by Slovenians, which fuelled the irate crowd to march towards National Hall.
The centre was closed and guarded by over 400 men, including soldiers, by the time the crowed arrived, as the Italian authorities had anticipated it could become a target of attacks.
When several shots were fired from Balkan Hotel within the centre and two grenades were lobbed from it, the soldiers there to protect National Hall turned the fire towards the hotel, which prompted the protesters to break in, douse the centre with petrol and set it on fire. They also prevented firefighters from putting the fire out, so it was in ruins by the next day.
The arson was followed by the protesters raging around the city attacking several other Slavic institutions, including the office and flat of the representative of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which later became known as the Trieste Kristallnacht.
The turmoil worsened the political situation in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, fuelling ethnic hatred, which the Fascists harnessed as they were rising to power. When the Fascist regime came to power in October 1922, ethnic minorities became a target of heavy assimilation pressure.
Slovenians were first deprived of the right to their mother tongue, which was followed by the closure of Slovenians schools and other institutions, by political persecution, confiscation of property and deportations.
This led to young Slovenian patriots getting organised within the TIGR organisation in 1927, around a decade after Trieste as well as a large chunk of lands populated by Slovenians became part of Italy following the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the end of WWI.
When Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes signed the Treaty of Rapallo in November 1920 setting the border after WWI, around 500,000 Slovenians and Croats came under Italy.
And although Trieste and a large area populated by Slovenians was also assigned to Italy after WWII, Trieste has remained a political, economic and cultural centre of the Slovenian minority to this day, although relations between the minority and Italy have never been fully tension-free.
It is estimated that some 80,000 ethnic Slovenians live in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, an area where Slovenians have been present from the 13th century according to historical records.
Writer Boris Pahor, at the age of 106 still a vocal advocate of Slovenian minority rights from Trieste, witnessed how National Hall was burnt down.
He told the STA that for him as a seven-year old and for Slovenians in Trieste the arson "meant the end of the world". He described the incident in two of his works, including the 1972 novel Trg Oberdan (Oberdan Square).
Pahor has taken this opportunity to once again urge Italy to publish the 2000 report on Slovenian-Italian relations, which was compiled by historians from both countries. "The report is still locked in Rome, it has never come to schools," said Pahor, who believes there is still a great risk of Fascism reappearing.
STA, 4 June 2020 - The Slovenian minority in Italy see the planned returning of Narodni Dom (National Hall) to the minority on the 100th anniversary of its arson as a symbolic act of reconciliation and a correction of history. Narodni Dom represents the lungs of the Slovenian community, Council of Slovenian Organisations (SSO) head Walter Bandelj has told the STA.
"The restitution of National Hall would be a huge gesture for the minority, a rectification of history," said Bandelj.
He sees the building designed as a Slovenian cultural centre as the "lungs of Slovenian identity", which is why it is important that it is returned to Slovenians. The building is in the centre of Trieste, which highlights the role Slovenians have had in the city, he said.
According to Italian Senator Tatjana Rojc, a member of the Slovenian minority, National Hall was a symbol of the economic and cultural rise of the Slovenian middle class in Trieste.
It was to show that Slovenians are not only the proletariat in Trieste as some still think today, that they are not just port workers, maids and laundresses, but also people who are successful in business and culture, she said.
Igor Gabrovec, an ethic Slovenian who is member of the regional legislative assembly of Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy, believes that by building it, Slovenians had proven to Trieste and especially themselves that they were economically and politically successful, "which is why the attack on National Hall was a shot through the heart of the Slovenian community and the idea of pan-Slavic unity".
The restitution of National Hall would be a "symbolic act of reconciliation which we all justifiably expect a hundred years after the arson of this building on 13 July 1920," said Ksenija Dobrila, the head of the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Union (SKGZ). "It would be a confirmation that we are full-fledged members of this space."
Italian Ambassador to Slovenia Carlo Campanile agrees that Italy would thus send a future-oriented message. "It will be an invitation to cooperation, a message that we wish to grow and develop together in the spirit of friendship and cooperation while dealing with our common problems and challenges".
Yet whether or not Italy will indeed transfer the ownership of the building to the minority organisations on 13 July, when the presidents of the two countries, Borut Pahor and Sergio Mattarella, are expected to meet to mark the anniversary of the arson, is not certain yet.
The ambassador did not exclude this possibility although noting that the Covid-19 epidemic had affected all proceedings in Italy lately. "Of course this must not be an excuse. It's a path we've started and I hope it will be concluded as soon as possible. There's a will for this to happen on both sides," he said.
Italy committed to returning the building to Slovenians in the 2001 act protecting the Slovenian minority. The law said the building, which was rebuilt between 1988 and 1990, and now houses the headquarters of the college of modern languages for interpreters and translators, part of the University of Trieste, as well as a Slovenian information centre, should be returned within five years.
Since nothing would happen over the next 16 years, the then foreign ministers, Karl Erjavec and Italy's Angelino Alfano, reached an agreement in 2017, reaffirming Italy's commitment and set the end of 2020 as the final deadline for the return.
The process got an additional boost with talks between Pahor and Mattarella, who expressed the wish to meet in Trieste on 13 July and reach an agreement on the restitution.
"A few more steps are needed before minority organisations move to National Hall, but the outlook is very good," assessed Slovenian Consul General in Trieste Vojko Volk.
He sees this as "the biggest event for the Slovenian minority in Italy since independence if not of this century".
Bandelj said the minority was hoping that at least an agreement on ownership would be activated before 13 July, which would say that "we will become owners in two to three years".
He said it was understandable that the University of Trieste needed some time to move its college out the building. A reasonable deadline would be set, he noted.
Bandelj said the minority was financially capable of owning the building. "We have organised to have all institutions that would operate in the building after it is returned to Slovenians pay rent so no extra costs would emerge."
Dobrila stressed an agreement on ownership was important for the organisations to have the freedom to develop the concept of the building, and to restore the "original idea of our ancestors and create heritage for the generations to come".
She envisions the building as a centre of all communities in Trieste, dedicated to art, culture and research.
Both Dobrila and Bandelj deem the planned visit of the two countries' presidents on 13 July a far-sighted sign of peace, harmony and coexistence. A ceremony with 150-200 participants at the opera house, which was planned for the anniversary, was postponed for a year because of coronavirus.
STA, 4 June 2020 - A hundred years ago, the Italian state authorities allowed the torching of Narodni Dom (National Hall) in Trieste by not punishing anybody for the crime and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was too weak to react, historian Borut Klabjan has told the STA. Italian historian Raoul Pupo said investigating the matter did not suit the Fascists.
Before the First World War, Trieste was a global, multicultural, multi-ethnic city that attracted people from all over the world who wanted to benefit from its prosperity and rapid growth, said Klabjan of the Institute for History Studies at the Koper Science and Research Centre.
"Trieste before the First World War was definitely the city with the highest share of Slovenians. Back then, Trieste had 220,000 to 230,000 people, and a quarter, perhaps even a third of them, were Slovenians. Ljubljana had 50,000 people at the time, more than half of them Slovenians. Trieste was in fact the largest Slovenian city."
The war cut into this flourishing city, and when the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell apart, Italy occupied the area. Its plan was homogenisation of the territory and it did not recognise others on it - neither Germans in the north nor Slovenians and Croats in the east.
Tensions built up soon, which led to the arson of the National Hall, a Slovenian commercial and cultural centre, on 13 July 1920.
According to Pupo, the multicultural and cosmopolitan character of Trieste was a heritage of the pre-national period of the city's history in which collective identities were not formed based on people's origin or their mother tongue but based on their faith, loyalty to institutions etc.
But in the second half of the 19th century, a process of parallel competitive nationalisation of language groups, which was typical of the Hapsburg monarchy, started in Trieste as well, undermining the spirit of tolerance.
"National movements have very different sources of inspiration, as the Italian national movement copied the French model of voluntary nation, while the Slovenian national movement followed the example of the German ethicist concept.
"Both shared the desire to have exclusive power over a territory, which should be achieved using any means available," said Pupo, a lecturer at the University in Trieste.
"The arson was not an act by an Italian state institution but the attitude of the state institutions was what had allowed it to happen," said Klabjan, who is working on a monograph about the events that happened on 13 July 1920 together with his colleague Gorazd Bajc.
The attack on National Hall was the first by Fascists, the largest and not nearly the only one. "Given that the reaction of the authorities was such that they blamed Slovenians for provoking Italians, and not reconciling themselves to the fact that the area became Italian, this attitude of the authorities that did not punish anyone for the arson, gave wings to the movement."
In a matter of months, the movement brought together the majority of the extremists who were involved in the arson and the Fascist movement began. After National Hall, they targeted other property of Slovenians and political opponents, especially socialists, communists and republicans, who wanted to stand up to Fascist violence.
The leader of the Fascists was Francesco Giunta, who came to Trieste in the spring of 1920, when the situation was perfect for developing Fascist ideas, a mix of nationalist claims in relation to the then ongoing Paris Peace conference, and political pressure, Klabjan said.
Neither he nor others who took part in the National Hall arson were punished because the authorities found them useful and wanted to use them to crush socialists, communists, Slovenians and Croats.
The young Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians (SHS) also failed to respond, presumably "to keep a low profile in relation to Italy", Klabjan said, noting that he was still investigating this aspect.
The SHS was afraid to anger Italy, with which it needed to reach an agreement on the borders as soon as possible, so "in relation to Italy it was the weaker partner". It did not have a lot of room to manoeuvre either bilaterally or multilaterally.
Evidence suggests the SHS did not respond to the National Hall arson but only to the subsequent attack on an office of a delegation of the SHS.
The latter was also what triggered a reaction from foreign consuls in Trieste. The British, French, Czechoslovak and American consuls thought about taking steps but failed to do so in the end, partly because the SHS did not react.
But documents show that representatives of other countries blamed the Italian authorities for not preventing the havoc in the city, Klabjan said.
Pupo, a member of the Slovenian-Italian historic and cultural commission which drew up a report on the relations between the two nations from the late 19th century until after the Second World War a few years ago, believes nobody was ever punished for National Hall arson because this did not suit the Fascists or state institutions, "which already covered for them".
"It was not good to investigate details which could potentially undermine the official reconstruction of events drawn up by civil commissioner Mosconi.
"There are still so many opaque aspects to the whole incident that many things remain unclear to this day: who stabbed two persons in Piazza Grande, of whom one later died? Who dropped a bomb or bombs? Who shot? Who knows ..."
STA, 25 May 2020 - An incident involving a dual citizen of Slovenia and Italy who was stopped at gunpoint by a uniformed man, allegedly a member of the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) patrolling the border with Italy, occurred in the Hrpelje-Kozina municipality in early May, Primorski Dnevnik reports. But SAF says no soldier was in the area back then.
The Trieste-based Slovenian newspaper provides an account by a 32-year-old dual citizen with temporary residence in Slovenia, who was taking a walk with his girlfriend in the woods above the Glinščica valley.
In a moment when he moved slightly away from the partner, he was approached by two men in military uniforms, one of whom demanded he immediately stop.
"I got scared. I didn't know what was going on. I thought it was some 'lunatic' playing solider. He ordered me to kneel down. He pointed an automatic rifle directly to my head," the man told the newspaper. Once the men in uniform heard him speak Slovenian, they apologised and let him go.
"It was a soldier of the Slovenian army. He was not a member of any kind of home guard. He explained that his colleague and him were looking for possible migrants who are crossing the border headed towards Italy in this area daily," he added.
Responding to the news report, SAF said on Monday it had contacted the Primorski Dnevnik journalist to learn the incident had taken place on 8 May near the village Mihele, checked the situation with the police, whom soldiers help patrol the border with Italy, but established that no SAF member had been in that area on that day.
SAF also explained that soldiers usually take part in patrols with police officers to patrol the border which consist of two soldiers and one police officer. The soldiers mainly support the police officer in performing his duties. This means they do not act on their own.
Earlier in the day Defence Minister Matej Tonin said SAF was checking what had happened, waiting for the police to provide the necessary information. It is the police that keeps the record of which patrol a solder is assigned to. He said it was in the interest of all for the incident to be cleared up, but indicated it could also be fake news.
MP for the Italian Democratic Party Debora Serracchiani has meanwhile already notified the Italian Foreign Ministry of the "news about worrying events on the Italian-Slovenian border", reported the Italian press agency Ansa. She said she would call on Minister Luigi Di Maio to demand an explanation from the Slovenian government.
Ansa also quoted the MP as saying "it would be unacceptable if there was substance to claims that armed members of paramilitary groups are moving close to our border".
While the Slovenian government is pushing for SAF to get certain police powers to help police on the border, Article 37.a of the defence act that would allow for this is presently not in force.
Article 37 states the army does not have police powers, while it "allows the Slovenian army to cooperate with the police in the wider protection of the border in the interior of the country's territory in line with plans and a beforehand decision by the government".
In mid-April, Interior Minister Aleš Hojs announced the government planned to nevertheless deploy soldiers if needed, using a different legislative provision that allowed a more limited form of deployment.
"In the event Article 37.a of the defence act is not activated, we will increase the number of SAF members on the border via Article 37," Hojs said then.
Activation of Article 37.a would allow soldiers to temporarily restrict the movement of persons and take part in crowd control along the border. The powers are granted for up to three months with the possibility of extension.
The debate about whether to put in force Article 37.a, written for and used temporarily during the 2015/16 refugee crisis, has been raising dust in Slovenia, as has the patrolling of allegedly unarmed uniformed groups, referred to as home guards. Legislation aimed to clamp down on them was drawn up under the previous government but voted down in March as the new government was being formed.
Meanwhile, the incident has drawn criticism from the opposition, with Matjaž Nemec of the SocDems calling on the defence, interior and foreign ministers to explain in detail the circumstances of the event and the legal basis for independent activities of the army along the border.
If those responsible fail to answer why the army was involved in the monitoring of the border with Italy, why it was not part of a mixed group led by the police, "such an international incident ... requires at least the resignation of the minister in charge", Nemec said.
Luka Mesec of the Left told the press the event was a reflection of the state desired by the Janez Janša government. He added the past months - seeing a substantial drop in the number of illegal border crossings and a reduced police workload due to the lockdown - showed there was no reason to activate Article 37.a.
"The only reason to activate Article 37.a is for the government to spread fear and evoke images some kind non-existent phantasmagoric adversaries," Mesec said.
STA, 23 February 2020 - Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus in Italy, the Foreign Ministry has advised Slovenian citizens visiting the country to be cautious on their return home. Those heading to Italy are advised to check the latest situation at their chosen destination.
Authorities in the north of Italy have imposed emergency measures to try to contain worrying outbreaks of the virus. A dozen towns in Lombardy and Veneto have gone into lockdown as the number those infected exceeded 100 and two of those infected died.
Friuli Venezia Giulia, the region bordering Slovenia, has declared a state of emergency due to the proximity of Veneto, where the authorities have shut down the Venice Carnival and other public events as the number of coronavirus cases has risen to 25.
The carnival is popular with Slovenian tourists and several travel agencies offer trips there, but the STA has learnt that one of Slovenian travel agencies last night notified the clients booked for the trip that their trip, planned for early Sunday morning, had been cancelled.
The Foreign Ministry has noted that the coronavirus outbreak and the measures to contain it are changing fast, urging those headed to Italy to check the latest situation with their hosts, travel agencies or hotels.
The ministry's consular service, the Slovenian Embassy in Rome and the Consulate General in Trieste keep in touch with the Italian authorities and are monitoring the developments.
Slovenia has not recorded any case of the novel coronavirus infection from China except for two passengers who have contracted the virus at the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Japan. They have been hospitalised in Japan.
The other four Slovenians who had been aboard the virus infected ship that had been under quarantine for over a fortnight have since returned home. They have tested negative again, but have been placed in isolation at their homes for two weeks as a precautionary measure.
To prevent catching the infection, the National Public Health Institute has advised the population to follow the usual precautionary measures against contagious diseases such as avoiding close contacts with people showing signs of an infectious disease.
"Do not touch eyes, nose or mouth. Stay at home when falling sick. Follow the cough hygiene measures. Regularly wash your hands with soap and water," or when that is not available use a hand sanitiser, the institute says on its website. It says that the use of face masks is not necessary.
Janez Janša, the leader of the Democratic Party (SDS), urged the caretaker government on Saturday to call a session of the National Security Council to discuss the situation in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
In response, outgoing PM Marjan Šarec tweeted that the authorities in charge were prepared for a potential outbreak of the virus and were coordinating activities on a daily basis.
"There are plans for the case of a potential broader spread of the disease," he said, adding that the situation should be taken seriously but without causing panic or politicising it.
All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia can be found here
STA, 15 February 2020 - President Borut Pahor has expressed sadness over the "abuse of 10 February, the Foibe Remembrance Day," and regret that high representatives of Italy ignored the historical truth Slovenia and Italy established together.
Addressing a World War II commemoration on Friday in the town of Komen, not far from Slovenia's border with Italy, Pahor was quoted by his office as saying he regretted that "high representatives of the Italian state still do not respect the mutually agreed historical truth for the period between 1880 and 1956 as determined by the final report of the Slovenia and Italian mixed historic and cultural commission".
PRS na spominski slovesnosti ob 76. obletnici izgnanstva in begunstva ter 75. obletnici vrnitve. Pred spominsko slovesnostjo je predsednik republike položil venec k spomeniku padlim žrtvam v narodnoosvobodilni vojni in v izgnanstvu pred Kulturnim domom Komen. pic.twitter.com/jzfPQ4QyvQ
Sunday night the Italian neo-Fascist movement CasaPound put up banners describing World War II Partisans as assassins, issuing a protest following an attempt in December to deny the suffering of Slovenians at the hands of Fascists.
The banners were raised in Slovenian towns and villages on the eve of the Foibe Remembrance Day dedicated to the victims of post-WWII killings by Yugoslav Communists, many of whom were thrown in Karstic chasms called foibe in Italian.
On Monday, the Foreign Ministry condemned the smear campaign and urged the Italian authorities to respond and "take measures in accordance with their powers"
The ministry added that Slovenia respected the Italian Foibe Remembrance Day and that it expected "the same respect for Slovenian and other victims of the resistance against the occupying Fascism, in particular civilian victims who massively perished in Italian concentration camps."
Yesterday, Pahor said that he had great hopes for the joint commemoration Italy and Slovenia are preparing to mark 100 years since the Fascists burnt down the Narodni Dom community centre of the Slovenian population in Trieste.
Pahor will attend the ceremony planned for 13 July alongside his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella. He also expects that the building, which had been renewed, would be returned to the Slovenian minority in Italy. "It should be a great day, a turning point we all will remember with joy," he said.
STA, 10 February 2020 - The Slovenian Foreign Ministry has condemned a smear campaign in which the Italian neo-Fascist movement CasaPound put up banners describing World War II Partisans as assassins, issuing a protest following a recent attempt to deny the suffering of Slovenians at the hands of Fascists.
CasaPound put up banners reading Tito's partisans, villains and assassins (Partigiani Titini infami e assassini) across Italy on the eve of today's remembrance day dedicated to the victims of foibe, the Italian for karst chasms where the victims of post-WWII killings by Yugoslav Communists were thrown.
The banners, which carry the emblem of the Fascist movement, were also stuck to the facades of the Slovenian cultural home in Opicina, the France Prešeren Theatre in Bagnoli della Rosandra, both villages in the Trieste province populated by the Slovenian ethnic minority, the Trieste-based Slovenian newspaper Primorski Dnevnik reported.
Tatjana Rojc, the ethnic Slovenian senator in Rome, condemned the campaign as the latest attempt "to smear the Slovenian community, an addition to the worrying presence of CasaPound, which is raising its head through violent talk and by harming co-existence," she was quoted as saying by the Italian press agency Ansa.
"With today's smear campaign in Slovenian villages, the neo-Fascist organisation CasaPound has again demonstrated its intolerance of Slovenians and the suffering of the Slovenian nation under Fascism," the Slovenian Foreign Ministry commented.
Noting that the organisation carried out a similar campaign in December 2019, the ministry said that CasaPound deserved "condemnation by the democratic authorities of free Europe". The ministry urged the Italian authorities to respond and "take measures in accordance with their powers".
The ministry added that Slovenia respected the Italian remembrance day for the foibe victims. "We expect the same respect for Slovenian and other victims of the resistance against the occupying Fascism, in particular civilian victims who massively perished in Italian concentration camps."
The ministry said such mutual respect was not aided by panel debates organised under the sponsorship of the local authorities in Trieste, including one scornfully themed as "Slovenians' false self-pity", and another at which speakers claimed Slovenians burnt down themselves their National Home in Trieste in 1920.
"We cannot and will not allow the denying of the suffering by Slovenians and the distortion of history," the ministry said.
Last year the day marking the remembrance day for the foibe victims caused a major controversy between Slovenia and Italy after Antonio Tajani, serving as European Parliament president at the time, made what were interpreted as territorial claims in his address to a foibe victims remembrance ceremony. Tajani later apologised for his comments.
President Borut Pahor said in a press release today he had protested with Italian President Sergio Mattarella against the "unacceptable statements by senior representatives of Italy" made on last year's foibe remembrance day.
Pahor also said that Mattarella had agreed that the statements made last year had been inappropriate, and could create an impression of territorial claims.
He said he had called on his Italian counterpart to respect the historical truths. Pahor thinks an ideal opportunity "for our joint trip to the past and looking at the future" will be the upcoming ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the torching of the Trieste National Home.
The Council of Slovenian Organisations (SSO), the umbrella organisation of Slovenians in Italy, also strongly condemned CasaPound's smear campaign today, saying the "fascist act" was a "severe blow to the democratic values and freedoms on which we are building our future here".
The SSO moreover called on the Italian authorities to investigate the matter and punish the perpetrators.
The Social Democratic Party (SD) joined the call for action, saying CasaPound was trying to rehabilitate fascism, an "ideology that took the lives of millions around the world".
The Left also spoke of rehabilitation of fascism, saying that the recent misinterpretations of history, which are being promoted even by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, were inciting hatred between the two nations.
STA, 16 December 2019 - Slovenian Consul General in Italy's Trieste Vojko Volk has condemned the posters on which an Italian neo-fascist movement labelled five Slovenian victims of fascism as terrorists. The provocation happened in two Italian towns on Saturday, on the eve of an event commemorating the victims.
The five patriots - Pinko Tomažič, Viktor Bobek, Simon Kos, Ivan Ivančič and Ivan Vadnal - were executed on 15 December 1941 after being sentenced to death by a fascist court in what is known as the "second Trieste trial".
On the eve of the 78th anniversary of their execution, Casa Pound put up posters in Opicina and Longera, saying they were not victims but terrorists, Primorski Dnevnik, the newspaper of the Slovenian minority in Italy, reported two days ago.
The neo-fascist campaign was immediately condemned by the Slovenian minority party - Slovenian Community (SSk) and by the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Association, an umbrella minority organisation.
TIGR Primorska, an association cherishing the memory of the first anti-Fascist fighters in the area Italy occupied after WWI, also condemned the incident, urging Slovenian senior officials to respond.
It called on President Borut Pahor, Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, Foreign Minster Miro Cerar and Consul Volk to ask Italy's officials to publicly distance themselves from such acts.
Responding to the appeal, Volk said today the provocation was meant to undermine the achieved level of cooperation and trust among the Slovenian and Italian nations.
He noted that in 2020, 100 years will have passed since the National Home in Trieste was burnt down by Fascists, on which occasion the Slovenian and Italian presidents will be in Trieste for a commemoration. Talks are also under way for the National Home to be returned to the Slovenian minority.
"These processes contribute to reconciliation and coexistence among the nations and direct us towards the future at concrete and symbolic levels", which Volk believes some far-right groups in Italy find disturbing.
"But it is up to us to respond to political provocations calmly and resolutely," he wrote in his response, noting yesterday's commemoration in Opicina was exactly such a response.
The diplomat stressed a lot of people turned out, and Trieste Mayor Roberto Dipiazza as one of the speakers strongly condemned the provocation and urged tolerance.
